Her Call
by the butt
Summary: Abby/McGee: Abby battles inwardly about her relationship with McGee
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: First NCIS fic. I tried hard to represent the characters well - I noticed that Abs and McGee say each others' names a lot, so I did so as well :B I hope it doesn't suck too hard! Enjoy.

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Abby sighed as she hung up the phone with her now-ex-boyfriend. Jaime had seemed like such a great guy, and she had truly liked him. A tattoo artist with a wild streak. Their first date had been to a graveyard rave. He was charming. And now he was with some other girl from the tattoo shop, some girl that Abby felt necessary to assume a hussy.

Biting her lip, Abby looked around at her machines. There was no work to be done, nothing to distract her mind from yet another relationship gone cold, and so Abby jumped up, determined not to sink into one of her rare sad moments. She headed, with a forced spring in her step, upstairs.

"Lunch, McGee?" Abby stood in front of her best friend's desk, watching as he bounced up from sleep, instinctively jumping to type something on his computer before realizing what was happening. He looked quizzically up at Abby.

"What time is it?"

"Noon-o-clock, Tim," Abby smirked, giving him a look that clearly begged for the reason he was so tired.

Dryly, McGee responded to her look, "It's not what you think, Abs. Jethro kept me up all night. I think one of my neighbors had drugs."

Abby's eyes widened proudly at the dog's achievement. "What a good boy! See how well trained he is?"

McGee frowned at Abby, but let the subject drop. He couldn't be mad at her for conning him into a drug-sniffing dog – he couldn't be mad at her for anything. His mind traced back to the original request of lunch. "Where do you want to eat, Abs?"

"Don't care. Somewhere with a Caff-Pow."

Things had passed in a comfortable silence between them as McGee drove them to Mama's Grill. They now sat across from each other, Abby plucking slowly at a salad while McGee waited for his soup. Idly, Abby glanced up at him before looking down into her bowl. "Jaime broke things off today."

McGee's eyebrows shot up, and a stutter came from his throat. "I. . . Uh, wow, Abs. . . I thought things were going well?"

"Yeah, so did I until he decided Sara Michelle, or whatever that tramp's name is, was a better match," she glared out at her friend before taking a breath. "Sorry." She looked back down into her salad, letting out a little huff. All she could think about was her absolute and utter failure at anything relationship-related. The only boyfriend that didn't turn out shallow or crazy was sitting right across from her, now a long-lost cause. The one guy that was worth his weight, and she broke it off because he got too serious.

And now, six years later, here they were. Best friends. McGee had held on to his feelings for her for some time, but she had felt compelled to keep him at bay. Sure, they had slept together since their breakup when dry spells happened to coincide, but even that seemed to happen less frequently. McGee was famous, he had been rich for some time, and he had been having astounding luck at finding women who wanted to sleep with him.

And, despite Abby's prior reluctance, she had become jealous of those women. In some ways she was jealous of him, with the ability to attract sane members of the opposite sex.

Suddenly, there was a hand on her fork-wielding one, and she snapped up to face her best friend.

"Abby? Do you want to talk about it?"

She looked into his face for a long few seconds before shaking her head. "You know I don't talk about things. And don't even think about trying to pull a Gibbs on me. It won't work."

For a second, she saw a part of him want to try it. But he backed down, reaching out to grab her hand again with a smile on his face. "If you change your mind, I'm here."

Abby gave him a weak smile, and she squeezed his hand as a thank you. Conveniently, the waiter popped in just then with their meals, and the rest of their lunch was filled with another comforting silence, but there was still a nagging thought in the back of Abby's head. McGee really was the only quality, un-shallow guy she'd ever dated. And the fact that she was even thinking about it made her wonder: was she finally getting ready to settle down?

Despite this nagging thought, there was still heavy doubt. McGee was here, he was her best friend, and they had a past. But, as cliché as the thought was, Abby wondered if they had a future. She doubted she could ever find another quality guy – not at her age, with her reputation, with her way of life. But she had rejected him twice, and his romantic feelings for her were probably long gone. She was probably just the sister, the best friend. Nothing more. She had probably shattered all hope in him that things could ever work out. And now that she wanted them to, she regretted that.

If she wanted a relationship with him, she would have to do it. She knew him well enough – he wouldn't try again. If she wanted it, it was her call.


	2. Chapter 2

Welcome to capitolo due :)

EDIT: Changed a teeny tiny bit at the end, thanks to alix33's suggestion. :)

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Two weeks had passed since Jaime had broken things off. Abby had perked up, the bit of sadness well hidden beneath her chipper exterior. Even Gibbs, it seemed, had failed to notice the niggling sense of loss within Abby.

It wasn't the loss of her boyfriend that had bothered her – no, it was the loss of Tim. Six years ago. Two years ago, when she told him that McGregor and Amy were "all wrong for each other". Had he given up for good after that? He never changed personality, never stopped being her best friend; he never skipped a beat at all. He just jumped right back to the way things were. The casualty between them was stunning.

At the moment, Abby was sitting boredly in her lab. A case had come and gone, a criminal sent to prison. And, again, there was nothing to do aside from wallow in her thoughts, in her what-ifs.

Until, that is, the man in question walked into the lab, dutifully holding two Caff-Pows. He smiled proudly at her, plopping one down onto the desk and pulling up a chair.

"Another boring day, McGee?" Abby put on her happy face, grinning at him before sucking up her favorite drink.

"Tony and Ziva have been fighting all day, it's really starting to grate on my nerves. I had to get out of there."

Abby smirked, "Wanna go play Halo? I hooked my X-Box up to the TV in the other room a few weeks ago."

This caught McGee's interest. He looked across to her, brows raised. "Really?" She grinned at him, and he jumped up in excitement before suddenly stopping. "Wait, Abs, if the boss catches me-"

"I'll tell him it's for a cold case I'm working on. Come on, McGee!"

He stood for a second, weighing his options. Abby gave him her classic look – the one that got Jethro a cozy spot in his apartment. He sighed, smiling a little bit, before nodding and heading toward the X-Box.

Half an hour later, McGee collapsed grumpily into a chair, his coat hanging on the back and two empty Caff-Pow cups crushed on the floor. Abby was triumphantly bouncing in the air, controller in hand. After she had finished her victory dance, she looked cheerfully over at her friend, who smiled sincerely. "Congratulations, Abby."

Abby knew that when she was happy, McGee was too. He cared deeply for her, whether it was romantically or not. And that fact, in turn, bumped her happiness up yet another level. She plopped down on the floor next to his legs, looking up at his face. He looked down with a smug look, leaning down to get closer. "I let you win."

A wide grin spread across Abby's face. "Oh-ho! No you didn't! I know you, McGee. I can tell when you're letting somebody win!"

"Like when?"

"Like that time with Ziva, on Tony's birthday.'

"Well, that was just pathetic. And I wanted her to stop swearing in other languages."

"And I could tell! No, McGee, I won fairly, and you know it."

The pair stared at each other for a few seconds, each trying to break the other's will. And then, suddenly, things got awkward. Perhaps it was just in Abby's head, but she suddenly felt uncomfortable – a feeling she hadn't had around McGee, or anyone, really, in years. She laughed, looking down to her feet. Abby shut her eyes and thought for a second, almost wanting to reach up and kiss him right there. But that would be awkward. Instead, she leaned her body against his legs, sighing. McGee reached down and patted her on the back.

For a minute or two, things stayed that way, in a sort of stale moment where no progress was being made to make it less awkward. Abby let out another short sigh, wondering when she reverted to a fifteen-year-old version of herself. But she almost liked it – there was a funny feeling in her, one she hadn't felt in ages. Abby Sciuto, the queen of purely-sexual relationships, was actually falling hard for somebody. It was a good feeling.

The moment was soon interrupted by a throat clearing behind them. They turned to see Tony, an apple in hand. "Well, well, well, McGamer, are you skipping out on work? Gibbs would love to hear about this."

"There's nothing going on up there, anyway."

"For your information, Probie, Ziva and I have been needing your expert opinion for quite some time." Tony moved to the front of the television, tossing the apple in the air a few times.

"I'm not getting in the middle of your arguments, Tony."

"Come on, McSpoil Sport, we just want to know if-"

"What in Hell is half my team doing down here playing on that – that Game Boy?"

Again, they turned to see Gibbs rounding a corner, Caff-Pow in hand. McGee couldn't resist himself: "Well, uh, actually Boss, it's an X-Box. The Game Boy is a – you don't care." He stopped himself once he saw the look of murder on Gibbs' face. Abby quickly stood up to remedy the situation, smiling at her father-figure. "It's okay, Gibbs! McGee was helping me figure something out with a cold case, and Tony was down here looking for him."

Gibbs smiled at her, handing her the beverage and shooing his team away and giving Tony a smack on the head as he passed. When they were gone, Gibbs leaned in and kissed the top of her head. "You don't need to cover for them, Abby."

He turned and walked away. Before he got in the elevator, he shouted back to her, "Hey!". She turned to see Gibbs signing from across the room,_ It's good to see you happy again._


End file.
